This invention relates to a program for use on a portable computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), cellular phone, or other device where keyboards have become less appealing. Keyboards are problematic due to these devices being large bulky components that must be externally connected. The SpeedWriter program is a solution to the problem. SpeedWriter provides a method for entering words (and phrases, numbers, punctuation, etc.) into a computer or related device by the user selecting from iteratively more precise subsets of the information until the desired word is located. Processor speed is not a concern in modern systems because a dictionary lookup is very fast compared to the human I/O process, even with the slowest of processors. Because memory limitations are no longer a major factor in these devices, a word list is easily stored in the device, especially with compression techniques.